As every golfer knows, golf skills can always be improved by practice. No matter how proficient the golfer is, practice can improve that golfer's game. For this reason, the art has included a plethora of golf practice accessories.
Practicing golf generally includes striking a golf ball which will travel varying distances. Other than putting, chipping and short iron practice, these distances can be quite great. Since proper and adequate practice generally requires the golfer to hit a great number of golf balls, retrieving such balls can be an onerous task. Accordingly, many golfers use driving ranges or shag caddies for this purpose.
However, since driving ranges or shag caddies are not always available whenever a golfer desires to practice, the art has included several assemblies which include a golf ball that is tethered to an anchor whereby the ball can be retrieved after it has been struck.
While somewhat successful in providing a ready practice assembly, these tethered ball devices and assemblies have certain shortcomings which inhibit their full commercial acceptance. For example, such devices generally attach a tether to a golf ball in a manner that interferes with the natural rotation of that ball during flight. Such interference changes the rotation pattern of the ball from that pattern associated with the stroke and impact of the golfer. Thus, the line of flight for such golf balls may differ from that line of flight associated with an untethered golf ball struck in the identical manner. For this reason, the golfer may not receive a true reading of his swing. The golfer could have a serious flaw in this swing that is not detected because the tethered ball is not permitted to undergo its natural rotation and does not hook or slice. Even worse, the unnatural rotation may cause the golfer to develop a swing habit which causes a ball to hook or slice when it is not tethered but will fly straight and true when it is tethered.
Another drawback to presently available tethered systems is that cumbersome nature thereof in storage. The tethering may tend to twist during use and tangle during storage. Such tangled or twisted tethering may inhibit use of the device.
Accordingly, there is a need for a golf accessory that permits a golfer to accurately see the results of his golf swing by tethering the golf ball to an anchor in a manner such that rotation imparted to the ball by impact of the club is not inhibited or interfered with, and the tethering means is not twisted in use or tangled during storage.